Sustainable development and climate change: lessons from country studies

Abstract

Sustainable development has been suggested as a framework for integrating development and climate change policies in developing countries. Mainstreaming climate change into sustainable development policies would allow these countries to achieve their development goals while addressing climate change. A number of research programmes have investigated how potential synergies could be achieved at national level and what kind of trade-offs between the various aspects of sustainable development have to be faced. An overview of these studies is provided, focusing on national case studies. The energy and transportation sectors are covered in many studies, but some attention is also given to the infrastructure sector and water supply. Most existing development policies will not lead to a sustainable development pattern, since they insufficiently address climate change. However, good opportunities exist for integrated policies to achieve development goals while engaging with climate change. The energy and transportation sector studies identified many alternative national low-cost policies with much lower GHG emissions than the business-as-usual policy. Opportunities are identified for alternative national development policies for infrastructure and water supply that provide resilience against climate variability and climate change.